Music Reviews I Missed in 2012

The birth of this blog can be attributed solely to my undying passion for music. Yes, I hear music a lot, a lot, literally, and I try to share my thoughts here as regular as possible. But alas, due to unavoidable commitments, which can come in various forms like my exams, cultural and technical festivals in my college, and of course my laziness, I have thoroughly missed reviewing some albums. Not that I missed hearing them. But I was, due to various reasons, not available at the time of their release and by the time I got back, other albums wold have released and it would have been too late for a review.

So here I give the albums of 2012 I liked and I missed reviewing. I hope such a post doesn't come next year.  Cheers! :)

1. Players : Was an average album, but I liked Dil ye bekraar, both versions immensely.

2. Will You Marry Me : Was a good album and I'm still hooked to Soniye. Brilliant stuff!

3. Bittoo Boss. Good, and liked Mann Jaage.

4. Gangs of Wasseypur : I actually didn't write it intentionally due to the simple fact that I was perplexed by the sheer brilliance and complexity of the album. I didn't know what to write, since I was unfamiliar with many of the genres. As I observed, even many of the top reviewers didn't get the entire genres correct even when they praised the album. GOW was excellent for me and I'll always admire Sneha Khanwalkar for the hard hard work she did. 

5. English Vinglish : Oh, how I regret not writing this review.! I had exams, I presume but this one is just excellent stuff! Loved each and every track and kudos to Amit Trivedi.!

6. Chittagong : Excellent score from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. A tad situational, but novel.

7. Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana : Good work by Amit Trivedi. But below par considering English Vinglish.

8. 1920 Evil Returns : Some good songs, overall average.

9. Kahaani : Undoubtedly one of the best albums of 2012. Vishal-Shekhar has put their heart into the music score even though many tracks were not featured in the movie, which was equally outstanding.! Piya Tu, Tore Bina and Kahaani title track are beautiful and absorbing!!

Talaash Music Review

Talaash Music

Music Direction : Ram Sampath

Lyrics :  Javed Akhtar

What I expected? : From a suspense thriller, music expectations were pretty low. But then its Ram Sampath, so, lets see.

Muskanein Jhoote Hai by Suman Sridhar is slow, seductive, meaningful and with an element of fear(really!) mixed with it, thanks to the careful jazz infused background arrangements giving a good hear!

Jee Le Zara by Vishal Dadlani works well in bringing that melancholic soft rock sound throughout the track which emits excellent doses of sadness and rage with superb slow arrangements and good lyrics giving a great hear!

Jee Le Zara Remix takes a complete transformation from the original and crafts itself in to a club song! Good hear indeed.!

Jiya Lage na by Sona Mahopatra and Ravindra Upadhyay, with the ghazalish tint semi classical fusion material is essentially a great hear where the high point is the composition and the excellent singing which has the right amount of feel and grief in it! Grt hear!

Hona Hai Kya by Ram Sampath made me remember 'Hey yeh maya' from Don 2 since both are are haunting and heroic slow moving rock songs, the former boasting of some boggling and intense arrangements and low pitched singing by Ram Sampath making a good hear!

Laakh Duniya Kahe again by Ram Sampath  is soft rock, low pitched and simple love song, agonizing and feelful which will make your head sway in bliss with the quality of Ram Sampath's singing! Grt hear!

Verdict : Talaash flies over expectations with the quality of songs exceeding expectations. Not much commercial value, but a delight for music lovers!

AVERAGE<GOOD<VERY GOOD<EXCELLENT!<OUTSTANDING!

 Must Hears : Jiya Lage na, Laakh Duniya Kahe

From Sydney With Love Music Review

From Sydney With Love Music 

Music Direction : Sohail Sen,Thor Patridge & Nabin Laskar

What to expect : No Idea. It came out of nowhere. But one of the MD is Sohail Sen so expect some real cool tracks with intelligent backdrops.

Feeling Love In Sydney - Sohail Sen. A modern urbane song thats breezy with a nice tune, yets seems like milking on Sohail's own 'Choomanter'(MBKD). Nice hear! Remix is added, which is super fun with funny dialouge pieces added. Good one!

Ho Jaayega - Mohit Chauhan. Guitar dominated romantic track. Mohit is excellent behind mike. Also the uncredited female singer. Has a good tune. Arrangements are nothing special. Anyway a good hear! Remix is added, which is outstanding with bettr arrangemets. Original should have borrowed a bit from this.

Khatkaa Khatkaa - Mika Singh. Qawaali infused fast Indian dance track with modern arrangements. Mika is in high pitch in most parts as usual, but goes down at times. Good arrangements and definitely worth a repeat. Good listen!

Naino Ne - Palak. A sweet romantic track with an engaging tune, Indian flavour and impressive orchestration. Good and promising singing by Palak and the unknown male voice is good too. Has a heard before feel. Grt hear!!

Item Ye Hi Fi - Neeraj Shridhar. Very Neeraj Shridhar-ish dance track with modern club beats and a lot of things mixed together. A harmless song with nothing special. Worth a hear.

Pyaari Pyaari - Brooklyn Shanti. This one's something. Light hearted song sung superbly with highly addictive loops and a cool bit of  European feel arrangements and lyrics. You'll find yourself shaking your head. Grt hear!!

Verdict : From Sydney With Love is a nice package of  good songs, that won't leave you dissappointed. Good hear!

3/5 

Cocktail Music Review

 

 Cocktail Music 
 Music Direction : Pritam Chakraborty

Tumhi Ho Bandhu - Neeraj Shridhar & Kavita Seth. Surprisingly delightful peppy song. Kavitha Seth's voice stands out. Its hard to drive out of your head the phrase 'tumhi ho bandhu sakha tumhi' sung aptly by Neeraj even if you have heard the song only once. Arrangements are modern and electric still okay but the songs gonna be a chartbuster!! Grt hear!!

Daaru Desi - Benny Dayal & Shalmali Kholgade. Another modern and funny and lazy song. Breezy singing by Benny Dayal and Shalmali. This is too comes with a terrificly simple and catchy tune. Find yourself singing it in the middle of something. It doesn't makes you dance, but you'll sway to the music. Get a fresh feel after hearing this. Grt hear!!

Yaariyan - Mohan Kanan & Shilpa Rao. Soft rock romantic song. Nice tune. Painful singing by Mohan. It just holds your attention as Pritam takes you to the 'Life in a Metro' zone. Shilpa gives a sufi edge. Hear it and forget everything. Just let it flow... More than impressive!!

Yaariyan (Reprise) - Sunidhi Chauhan & Arijit Singh. Starts with piano and moves slowly in an unplugged mode. Sunidhi is first class in rendition.! The feel she puts in is unmatched. Arjit Singh gives the same style singing he gave in Agent Vinod. Soulful and high pitched humming. Superb!

Second Hand Jawaani - Miss Pooja, Neha Kakkar & Nakkash Aziz. This is pure desi at core. Dholak beats with funny lyrics and suited slow singing. Find yourself shaking your head.! Have to watch out for the video. Good one!

Tera Naam Japdi Phiran - Javed Bashir, Nikhil Dsouza & Shefali. Club song and DJ beats. Javed's singing is but Indian with the Punjabi-infused lyrics providing the same feel. Nikhil and Shefali give the club singing. So kind of R&B feel. Good one! 

Tera Naam Japdi Phiran (Remix) - Javed Bashir, Nikhil & Shefali. Well a good remix but nothing innovative. Heard before arrangements.

Luttna (Saif Ul Malook) - Masuma Anwar, Sahir Ali & Anupam Amod. Sufi song. No wait, you can hear DJ beats.! I don't know what genre this song belongs to. Masuma Anwar gives a hardcore desi sufi rendition. The co-singers chorus comes with tabla. But electric arrangements dominates. And it goes perfectly smoothly and its haunting. Strange really! Pritam expiriments. But good one!

Luttna (Version 2) - Masuma Anwar, Sahir Ali Bagga & Anupam Amod. Different beats. A bit more soulful arrangements. Singing is the same. But I feel this version's better. Good one!

Jugni - Arif Lohar & Harshdeep Kaur. This one has a bit Pakistani in it. Rock song with  Punjabi-Urdu lyrics and singing is the same way too. Sounds a bit like Falak's songs. A bit too long but grabs your attention with the repeated high pitched loops. Good singing(in a way). Good one!

Main Sharabi - Imran Aziz & Yo Yo Honey Singh. Bonus track. Trance track. Must find its way into discos. Funny lyrics. Coated in modern arrangements. Chorus 'mein sharabi' is addictive again. Good one!

Verdict: Pritam has always done magic with Saif. Love Aaj Kal, Agent Vinod and now Cocktail. You can find almost every musical ingredient in Cocktail. Fresh, modern, desi, peppy. Pritam has again come up with a heavily loaded album which soul stirring songs.!! Go for it!

4/5

Bol Bachchan Music Review

 

Bol Bachchan Music
Music Direction : Himesh Reshammiya, Ajay-Atul.

Bol Bachchan - Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan & Ajay Devgn. Title track. Absurd but funny english lyrics. Catchy tune with grt Indian flavour. Amitabh, Abhishek are good behind the mike. Will linger for some time.Good One!
Remix comes with enhanced beats. Nothing new.
Chalao Na Naino Se - Himesh Reshammiya & Shreya Ghoshal. HR behind the mike again. This tym with the peppy dance romantic song. Average singing, Shreya is pretty good but gets only less scope. May work once video is out. Remix is just a remix.
Nach Le Nach Le - Sukhwinder Singh & Shreya Ghoshal. By guest composers Ajay-Atul. This one will put your legs on fire. Furiously fast and over the top singing by Sukku ji and Shreya supports beautifully. Perfect arrangements with the traditional desi feel. Go for it! Yeah, remix is there.
Jab Se Dekhi Hai - Mohit Chauhan. This is one song HR will sing himself if needed for one of his acting films. Sufi infused slow moving song with a lot of feel. Mohit has done a good job. Kind of nostalgic track, perfect for sitalone night time hear.! Good one! Could've avoided the remix.

Verdict. Above average album. Himesh lets down with Chalao Na. But the title track will catch up and Jab Se will be too. Have to watch out for Nachle. Come up with more innovations HR.

2.5/5

Teri Meri Kahaani Music Review

Teri Meri Kahaani Music
Music Direction : Sajid-Wajid


Mukhtasar - Wajid. Cool urbane love song. Catchy and addictive beats. The word 'mukhtasar' will linger, so the song won't go out of your head. Good and haunting singing by Wajid. Has a club feel to it. Good one!
Remix by DJ Suketu is added which is just OK.
Allah Jaane - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Traditional sufi song. Good singing by RFAK. Basic arrangements. Composers have succeeded in bringing the sufi element to the song. Lyrics are to be mentioned. Catchy tune and great repeat quality. Good one!
Jabse Mere Dil Ko Uff - Sonu Nigam & Sunidhi Chauhan. The 1960 track. Sonu and Sunidhi try to bring that old feel to the singing. Arrangements are good. Nothing great in the track. One time hear.
Humse Pyar Kar Le Tu - Wajid, Mika, Shabir Bro & Shreya Ghoshal. Traditional Qawaali dance track. 'Humse pyaar karle tu' loop is addictive. Can't help shaking your head. Same expected arrangements. Singers have done a good job.Good one! Remix is added.
That's All I Really Wanna Do - Shaan & Shreya Ghoshal. Cool love song. Situational track. Simplicity is what I liked in this track. Light hearted melody with a great deal of orchestration. Rendition of Shaan and Shreya is simple. Tune is  lovely. Good one!


Verdict : After prolonged flops, Sjid-Wajid delivers a surprise in Teri Meri Kahaani. While 'Mukhtasar' will work with youth in no time, the other songs namely 'Allah jaane' and 'Humse pyaar karle' has good hit potential if given essential promotions. Honest effort but nothing great.


3/5

Ferrari Ki Sawaari Music Review

Ferrari Ki Sawaari Music
Music Direction : Pritam Chakraborty

Maara Re - Sonu Nigam, Rana Mazumder, Aishwarya Nigam & Ashish. The cricket song. Foot tapping and addictive with quite funny lyrics. Turns melodious in between. Good One!
Rusy’s Theme - Instrumental. Is it really Pritam?? The theme is sweet and harmonic. With the perfect use of keyboards, drums and Cello, it has a semi- European feel which makes it a good night time hearing. Loved it!
Mala Jau De - Urmila Dhangar. Catchy beats make a start. Item number. Urmila's vocals are grt and have that item girl feel to it. Marathi lyrics and good orchestration. Not much repeat quality, but still manages to stand out. May work once video is out.
Ae Mere Mann - Shyamantan Das. Well, keyboards to begin with and a slow moving nostalgic track. Arrangements are to be watched out. Das has definitely a different sound. Chorus is beautiful with a church song feel. Winner!
Good Night - Priyani Vani. Lullaby. Mom singing to the baby. Priyani Vani, you have a really really tender sound. Or is it the lyrics?? The song moves soulfully all through your brain that I'm half asleep. Hear it thrice and you are already sleeping tight! Keyboard, guitar, violin, and the occasional sweet bell. Excellent track. Grand winner!!
Chal Ghoome (Ferrari Ki Sawaari) - Shaan, Boman Irani & Aayush. Theme song. Catchy tune and funny lyrics. Shaan is flawless in the rendition. I don't know how many layers of sound this track has got. Good arrangements. Good one!

Verdict : A very good soundtrack which is strangely un-Pritam-ish! A grt deal of good songs with no unnecessary remixes. Typical Vidhu Vinod Chopra light hearted album. Loved it!

3.5/5

Dangerous Ishhq Music Review

Dangerous Ishhq Music

Music Direction : Himesh Reshammiya

Tu Hi Rab Tu Hi Dua - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan & Tulsi Kumar. Sweet romantic track. I have a feeling that among the current music directors, only Himesh knows how to use Rahat to the maximum extent. Has a 'Kyon Ki'  feel somehow, the same beats, but its catchy. Tulsi has done a grt work too. Winner!

Has an R&B Remix and a reprise featuring the same singers. Good work.

Naina Re - Himesh Reshammiya, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan & Shreya. The combo has done magic whenevr they came together. Remember Teri Meri? Well Naina Re belongs to the three of them because all the three singers has done justification to their respective roles. There is soothness in Shreya, pain in Himesh, and feel in Rahat. Somehow, it takes you back to Himesh's earlier compositions at the time of Aap Ka Surror. Its good to see Himesh in his old self. A nostalgic track with haunting beats and pretty good lyrics. It grows on you.Good one.!

Has a remix with a 90's club feel and a reprise which is essentially the same as original.

Ishq Mein Ruswaa - Anweshaa. Mujra track. Anweshaa is a singer to watch out because she sounds so much like Shreya and her singing is so good and mature that you can't take the song out of your head. Good and soulful composition, but its not the first time HR is doing this. Winner!!

Remix was not necessary.

Umeed - Amrita Kak & Shahab Sabri. Club song? Dance track? Sufi song? No idea. The song changes from mode to mode in turns and do not essentially belongs to any specific genre. Amrita has done a Sunidhi, neverthless good. Shahab Sabri was OK. Anyway, a good one time hear. Remix is added.

Lagan Lagi More Piya - Shreya Ghoshal & Shahab Sabri. This one belongs to Shreya. She has done an excellent job in singing this slow romantic painful tune with feel so that it stands out as the best song in the album. Shahab has sung well too, but its Shreya who dominates. The beats are good and haunting and  its a perfect nighttime-sit-alone song! Winner!

Overall, Dangerous Ishq has a very good music score with each song having an identity of its own. Umeed is a let down, so excluding that the album works as a whole anyway. But if you have a feeling that Himesh has borrowed ideas from his previous compositions and made a rehash, its true. I'm getting that too. Not one of the best works of HR, not bad either. Except Umeed every song has grt potential if promoted well. Go for it!

3.5/5

Vicky Donor Music Review

Vicky Donor Music

Music Direction : Abhishek-Akshay

Rodkda - Akshay Verma & Aditi Singh Sharma. Good start for the album. A simple and light melody which is urbane cool in lyrics and the singing supperts it equally well. Good one.

Kho Jaane De - By Clinton Cerejo & Aditi Singh Sharma. Another refreshing and cool song. Ash King has a sound so sweet and emotional that he carries the feel of the song to a great extent. Kind of go free lazy song. This one's a winner. Loved it!

Rum Whisky - Akshay Verma. Punjabi number. This one's different fron the routine Punjabi songs with some catchy beats and chorus. Singer has done a decent job. You cn find yourself shaking your head. Good one.

 Pani Da Rang (Male) - Ayushmann Khurrana. Light hearted melody. Interesting tune with Punjabi lyrics. Guitar strings and the simple drum beats throughout are beautiful. This is one song Mohit Chauhan will lov to sing. Ayushmann has done a good job. Winner!

Pani Da Rang (Female) - Sukanya Purkayastha. This one's more slow nd haunting than the Male version. Sukanya sounds like Kavitha Seth, but pulls out a grt effort. Minimal orchestration so that the maximum attention is on the singing. Grt!

Mar Jayian (Romantic) - Vishal Dadlani & Sunidhi Chauhan. Haunting melody. This is the kind of song which is best to hear when you are alone at night. The arrangements are to be watched out. It changes mode halfway to dholak beats, which is just as good. Grt singing by Vishal and Sunidhi. Sweet and nostalgic!

Mar Jayian (Sad) - Bann. High pitched and unplugged. Bann's sound is quite unconventional and stands out. Only guitar in between. I felt like this holds the pain inteded by the song. Grt!

 Chaddha - Mika Singh. Mika gets his usual high pitch Punjabi number. But infused with modern sounds and beats. OK tune which somehow lacks punch. Problem maybe with the tempo. Anyway an average song.

Overall, Vicky Donor is a very good album which has everything from light melodies, urbane numbers and catchy dance tracks. An album to watch out. a good album from relatively new music directors with relatively new singers. Loved it !

3.5/5

Hate Story Music Review

Hate Story Music
Music Direction : Harshit Saxena

Mahe Jaan : By Harshit Saxena. Slow romantic softrock track. Has a heard before feel. Singing is average too. Harshit has to work on his tunes. Comes with a rock version too.
Dil Kaanch Sa : By Krishna. Krishna does a Fateh Ali Khan effort, and neverthless impressive. Dil kaanch sa is a has a feel good tune which works as a sufi number. Not great. Not bad either. A Heart&Soul version by Harshit Saxena is added.
Raat : By Sunidhi Chauhan. Slow haunting track, which does turns nostalgic in parts. But feeble effort with the singer concerned. Remix is nothing special.

Had more expectations from "Haal-e-dil.." composer Harshit Saxena. He comes up with an average album, with Dil Kaanch sa being the saving grace.

2.5/5

Jannat 2 Music Review

Jannat 2 Music
Music Director : Pritam Chakraborty

One of the most anticipated soundtracks of 2012, given that Jannat was a classic album.

Tu Hi mera : By Shafqat Amanat Ali. Essentially a qwaali love track, but you can't help getting hints of Ishq sufiana and Pee loon, the latter by Pritam himself. Still no where near those songs. The same and constant tabla beats, with no kind of innovations. Shafqat's singing is average but thats his usual style. Let go. Overall a good one time hear.
Tera Deedar Hua : By Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Again sufi and qwaali. But this one catches ur attention. FAK has let himself loose in this song. Good arrangements. Meaningful lyrics. Chorus is catchy. A great deal of new sounds can be heard in between. Good hear!
 Tera Deedar Hua(From the heart) : Javed Ali. Javed maintains his identity behind the mic. Personally I feel this version is better than the original. Superb!
Tujhe Sochta Hoon. KK. Of course, what is Jannat without KK? You expect an urbane cool melody from Pritam -KK combo. And here it is, nice and smooth in league with Jannat soundtrack. touching guitar strings and beats. Loved the flow of the track and KK's soulful rendition. The aalap will get addictive once you hear it 2-3 times. KK all the way. Winner.!!
Sang Hoon Tere : By Nikhil D'Souza. Another version of Tujhe sochtha hoon. The tune is so good that it doesn't matter who sung it. Nikhil is impressiveand fresh with a bit of english parts. Have to watch which version works with the masses.
Rab Ka Shukrana. :  By Mohit Chauhan. A grt song all the way! Sufi elements merged with Mohit's vocals presented in an unplugged mode with a good deal of lyrics. Violin and piano adds feel to the song. Mohit is perfect behid the mic. This one's gonna be a chart climber!
Rab Ka Shukrana (Reprise) : By Anupam Amod. Greater orchestration and they are good too. Anupam is  huskier and less nasal than Mohit, but feel remains the same.
Jannatein Kahan. : KKs back with Zara sa, this time with an improved version. Modern and fresh. The addictive aalap remains the same, all else different. Didn't understand the intention of the raps though. Loved it. Maybe because of KK. Good hear.!
Jannatein Kahan (Power Ballad) : By Nikhil D'Souza. Not much different from the originals except for the enhanced beats and rock edge. Good one.

Overall, Jannat 2 is a very good album but we expected an outstanding one. It is in league with Jannat but not one of Pritam's outstanding scores. All songs are good but what missing is a single chartbuster. All hopes on Rab Ka Shukraana and Tujhe sochtha hoon.


3.5/5